Not Federally-funded

If your research were Federally-funded, it would be subject to the “Common Rule,” a set of regulations that governs the conduct of all Federally-funded research involving human subjects and requires the establishment of an Institutional Review Board (IRB). However, Bates College applies the core values of “respect for persons, beneficence, and justice” to all research. (“Respect for persons, beneficence, and justice” comes from the Belmont Report, issued in 1979.) To enable this, the Bates College IRB is responsible for a voluntary “Human-subjects Research Protection Program” (HRPP). Even if your research is not Federally funded, you may have been directed here to participate in the HRPP for one or more of the following reasons:

  • Your research is funded by a sponsor that expects the same standards to be upheld as on Federally-sponsored research.
  • You are working with a professor who considers the protection of human subjects to be an important aspect of the research enterprise, and wants you to learn about it by working with the IRB and the HRPP.

We will now ask you much the same questions as we would if your research were Federally-sponsored, but the follow-up instructions may differ slightly. Please answer fully and completely to the best of your ability.

First question: Does your research involve the collection of new data from living human subjects?

Yes

No